High School Girls Soccer: Norwalk shuts out St. Peter's

NORWALK — Looks can be deceiving. A good example was the soccer match between Norwalk and the Mansfield St. Peter’s. Norwalk defeated St. Peter’s, 1-0, despite an enormous margin in offensive opportunities.
Norwalk (4-1) had 16 shots and 12 shots on goal in the match. Their lone goal came courtesy of Quinn Walton in the 10th minute, with an assist by Megan Casselberry.
“We’ve been preaching defense, and it’s worked for us,” Truckers coach James Igneczi said. “In a soccer game, you can only hold a zero against you for so long. If you can’t get it in the other net, you give the other team hope.”
The Truckers were stingy defensively allowing St. Peter’s (1-2-1) one shot the entire game, which came in the 89th minute from Emily Yeager. The attempt was made possible via a corner kick in the 88th minute — the Spartans’ only corner kick for the game.
“It’s all about taking advantage of your opportunities, and it’s about closing down all of theirs,” Igneczi said. “Unfortunately, it only takes one opportunity against you and luckily today it didn’t come.”
The Truckers brought physicality and aggressiveness throughout the game as well, being called for eight fouls. They were also plagued by offside penalties, committing seven of them.
St. Peter’s keeper MaKenzie Hendrickson was a bright spot for the Spartans, accumulating eight saves on the evening.
With Norwalk’s fourth victory of the season, they are one win shy of totaling its 2013 win total after finishing the year 5-11-2.
To get past the five-win mark, Igneczi is hoping the team can continue to get stronger and progress throughout the season and learn from its game against the Spartans.
“We’re used to pushing and getting better every single day, and I think today is the first moment we really had to stop and think about, ‘Are we pushing hard enough today?’ ” Igneczi said. “We know we can push a little bit further and be able to do it every day no matter who we are playing against no matter how we feel at the time.”
Norwalk will seek its fifth win of the season when it plays at Toledo Central Catholic on Aug. 30
The match was delayed in the 77th minute after a dog from one of the neighboring homes near the stadium ran out on to the field during play.
“I’ve only seen this happen in a youth (league) situation … Here we got backyards that butt up against the field.” Igneczi said. “It’s frustrating for both myself and the St. Pete’s coach. There’s nothing we can do. It’s just one of the situations where it slows things down.”

Advertisement

About the Author

Sam grew up in Cortland, Ohio, and graduated from Youngstown State in 2012 with a BA in Communications. He started at The Morning Journal in April 2013. Sam is a fan of the Cleveland Indians, Cleveland Browns and Los Angeles Lakers. Reach the author at sameen@morningjournal.com
or follow Sam on Twitter: @SamAmeen.